I just joined a local gym where many of my friends have memberships, including a group who are thinking thoughts of triathlons with me. On Tuesday, training began! We had a group swimming lesson: I swam maybe four lengths, the others swam perhaps a bit more, and we all had a nice long debrief in the hot tub. If only all our training were like that!
Yesterday, I bought myself a pair of goggles and went to the gym all by myself. I swam sixteen lengths. I had sixteen in my head because the one-mile swim of the sprint triathlon is equivalent to sixteen laps--but, too bad for me, that would mean thirty-two lengths, as a lap is two lengths. Maybe my brain was boggled by my baby blue goggles... at any rate, somehow I forgot the difference between a length and a lap and was inordinately impressed with myself for swimming what I imagined was the entirety of a mile. On my first solo swim! Of course, I did stop and rest after every length, but hey--this is a brand new venture for me! I'll get there! For the first time, a one-mile swim seemed like an attainable goal. Once I got home and realized I had only completed half the distance I originally thought... well, there went my dreams of being remembered as the Minnesotan Michael Phelps.
Alas.
Rome was not conquered in a day, or so I hear. I suppose I shouldn't expect swimming to be a quick learn either. Training takes time and patience and hard work. One mile, no stopping... right now, that seems a lot further from my grasp than it did last night. But I'll get there.
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